Diesel Cars Sales Up 27% in First Half of 2012
Clean diesels and hybrids are two options for consumers who want to ease the pain at the pump, and both are continuing to see impressive growth in the U.S. marketplace with diesel sales increasing 27.5 percent in the first half of 2012, while hybrid sales have jumped 63.5 percent.
This info, compiled by hybridcars.com and Baum and Associates, also shows a 14.9 percent increase in new car purchases across the board for the first half of 2012.
Diesel sales have increased 22 out of the last 23 months, with double-digit increases coming in 20 of those months. While this still does not touch European share of diesel sales, it shows an upward curve that does not appear to be slowing down. Upcoming fuel efficiency standards are also helping to push companies to offer more diesel options, that will help them meet the required 54.5 mpg average by 2025.
Over the next two years, 15 new clean diesel vehicles are going to be hitting the market, including some new entries from American automakers, like the Chevy Cruze diesel. Other new diesel products coming to out market include a Cadillac ATS diesel, Ford Connect diesel, VW Beetle diesel, Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel, Mazda SkyActiv-D diesel and Mercedes S-Class diesel.
Pike Research group predicts that by 2018, diesels will make up 12.4 percent of all light-duty vehicle sales here in the U.S.
Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
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Seriously, why reinvent the wheel? Diesel has been used extensively throughout Europe for decades and they have improved in quality and drivability so much that they are a great alternative to gasoline powered cars. In many ways they're better for the environment than hybrid and electric cars (people forget that the actual carbon footprint of a hybrid/electric is much higher than stated because of the cost to manufacture and ship the batteries). The latest round of diesel cars are simply fantastic! Now, let's get BMW to bring their ber clean 320d Efficient Dynamics model to these shores and then we'll see a real fuel revolution!
Finally, maybe we will get the other aoutomakers to start manufacturing more diesel cars in the US? I would love to buy the new Ford Focus with a diesel engine - when???